Linksys Velop review: Fast, capable mesh Wi-Fi—but way too expensive

The Linksys Velop is the latest in a rapidly growing line of
mesh, or "whole home" Wi-Fi systems from the likes of Google, Netgear,
and Ubiquiti.
Like its competitors, Velop is designed to help remove the dreaded dead
spots that plague a home wireless network, ensuring that you've got
complete coverage whether you're sat right next to the router, or you've
retreated to the garden shed for a spot of well-deserved me time. All
you have to do is stick an extra Velop router (or "node" in Linksys
speak) in the room with poor coverage, and hey presto, you've got faster
Wi-Fi.

Where the Velop differs, aside from in its monolithic
stature, is in its technical chops. Velop is the only consumer-focused
mesh Wi-Fi system to offer tri-band connectivity—which provides a
dedicated wireless link between each router in addition to the two
required for devices to connect to it—alongside the option for a
Ethernet-based wired backhaul and dynamic channel selection, the latter
minimising interference from neighbouring Wi-Fi networks.

Such tech doesn't come cheap. Velop starts at £199 (~$230 in the US)
for a single router, which is around £50 more than comparable standalone
routers, and £199 more than the free router typically bundled in with
home broadband packages. The price rises to £349 (~$380 in the US) for
the all-but-mandatory twin pack, and to an eye-watering £499 (~$530 in the US) for a triple pack.
Other mesh systems sell for similar prices, although, Velop's swankier
tech and (mostly) user-friendly setup process makes it the more
appealing option.
How appealing depends on the size of your home, and just how much you
value reliable Wi-Fi. Velop can make a dramatic difference to a home
network—but not everyone will see the benefit.

Wi-Fi for beginners?

Setting up Velop is either relatively straightforward or painfully frustrating, depending on your current broadband setup.
Inside the box are the Velop nodes, accompanying power adaptors, and a
single flat Ethernet cable. The small white nodes with a single
status light up top are inconspicuous enough, if not the design triumph
Linksys wants them to be, and oddly look better from the mesh-covered
back rather than the plain front. Their small footprint does at least
make them easy to fit onto a tightly packed shelf or tabletop, though.

Why do you hate me, Linksys?

Less thought was put into the square, bulky design of the power
adaptors that spread out wider than a standard plug socket. If you plan
on using the Velop adaptor with a multi-plug extension, don't expect to
be able to plug anything else in next to it.
Don't expect to plug much into a Velop node either: there are just
two gigabit Ethernet ports on the bottom—one of which is taken up by an
Internet connection on the first node—and there are no USB ports for
plugging in devices like printers and hard drives. Linksys expects you
to connect every device via Wi-Fi, which is a nice thought, but not
every device supports Wi-Fi by default.
Sky's standard Sky HD box doesn't support Wi-Fi without an add-on,
while British Gas' smart home Hive Hub only works over Ethernet. If you
have more than one or two Ethernet devices, you need to factor in the
costs and space for an additional Ethernet switch to add ports.
For a router setup that costs as much as £500 (~$623), though, it's
disappointing that the connectivity options are so sparse. The similarly
priced Netgear Orbi provides four gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB port
on each of its nodes.

This is what you're greeted with when you open the Velop box.

Velop comes with all the cables you need to get up and running.

Velop isn't exactly a looker, but it's inoffensive enough to blend in to a typical home.

The rear of a Velop router.

On the bottom are two Ethernet ports, plus reset and power switches.

Mark Walton

Instructions in the box are minimal, and simply say to download the
Linksys setup app, which is available for both Android and iOS. Windows
Mobile users (sorry Peter)
are out of luck. The Linksys app—which initially uses a Bluetooth
connection for initial setup—provides step-by-step instructions on how
to plug in the Velop, depending on what type of broadband connection you
have. There are two main connection options to choose from: "Single
Device," which is a combined modem and router and the most common
configuration for UK users, or "Dedicated Modem," where a Wi-Fi router
is connected to a separate modem.
In the latter case you simply unplug the separate router from the
modem and directly replace it with the Velop. A word of warning if
you're a Sky Fibre user, though: Sky used to provide separate modems and
routers with its fibre service, but has never officially allowed the
use of third-party routers. There are workarounds and custom firmware
available for certain Asus routers to enable the required DCHP Option 61
security protocol (I use the Asus RT-AC68U), but Velop does not support
it. To use Velop with Sky Fibre you have to select the Single
Device option and leave your router plugged in.
Sadly, none of this is reflected in the Linksys app, which instead
throws out error messages, or asks for a username and password for login
via the more common PPPoE method. A word of warning in the app or on
the box for potential buyers with Sky Fibre wouldn't go amiss.
There are also complications when using the "Single Device" option,
although setup is generally smoother. Plug one end of the included
Ethernet cable into the existing router, the other into the bottom of
Velop (which tucks neatly away underneath), and the app does the rest.
Well, sort of. Since the existing router is still active, at a minimum
you need to turn off its wireless functionality in order to avoid
interference. Ideally, you need to go a step further and turn off all of
the router's routing functionality and use it just as a modem,
otherwise known as "Bridge Mode." This avoids complications and
potential performance issues that arise from having NAT functionality
(Network Address Translation) active in both the old router and Velop.

Enlarge/ The setup process is too simple, and misses out key troubleshooting steps and settings.

Enlarge/ This was a frustratingly common error message during the setup process.

One of the primary roles of NAT is to make devices on a private
network (i.e. your home or office) publicly accessible, even though they
don't have a public IP address. At best, bouncing through two different
routes introduces the dreaded "Double NAT" latency. At worst, it breaks
functionality in apps and devices that depend on UPnP (Universal Plug
and Play) port forwarding to reach the Internet. When a device connected
to the Velop—which is in turn connected to the old router—attempts to
set up a port forwarding via UPnP, it ends up being forwarded not to the
Internet but to the old router.
Common apps like Skype can fail to work correctly without correct
port forwarding, and complex NAT setups are notorious for breaking
online gaming functionality in Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Since
there are so many different routers users could be using, it's not
surprising that Linksys doesn't include any instructions on how to
enable Bridge Mode or turn off Wi-Fi. But it does take the shine off
Linksys' promise of an "easy setup," particularly for novices that may
never have opened a router configuration page in their life.
Ploughing on through the setup process to create an SSID and Linksys
account for cloud-based access to Velop—which takes the app an age to
figure out whether Velop has an Internet connection and to apply an
out-of-the-box firmware update—I encountered another problem. Part of
the process involves disconnecting from the Velop via Bluetooth and then
reconnecting to it via Wi-Fi using the credentials inconveniently
printed on the bottom of the router.
Unfortunately, since at this stage the router does not have an
Internet connection, Android continues to route data through its mobile
data connection by default. This throws up a "connection not detected"
message in the Linksys app, which I could only fix by manually disabling
mobile data on my phone.

It's another sign that perhaps Linksys' software could have
done with a wee bit more development time. After all, if you must forgo
any sort of advanced Web-based interface in the spirit of keeping things
simple, you'd be better be sure it works without issue.